Page 63 of Wyoming Cowboy Undercover

“Do you know what happened to her? Where she went?”

His brow furrowed with confusion. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“I gave her some money to help her get started. She eventually moved to Wayward Bluffs, but I heard she went back to Laramie every week. Hoping to see you. Run into you. Convince you to leave the Shining Light. Sometime around your twentieth birthday she assumed you had taken your vows and gave up hope.”

Her father hadn’t allowed her to start going into town to help recruit people until she had turned twenty-one. What if that had been by design?

What if she had missed her chance? What if she never saw her again? “Do you have her address or a phone number?”

“No. But that’s how she wanted it. With as much distance from your father and the Brotherhood as possible.”

A sinking feeling took hold of her. It must’ve shown on her face because Rocco brought her into a tight embrace.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered in her ear.

She breathed through her disappointment, hoping that was true.

With a protective arm still around her, they continued to walk.

“Now that I think of it,” her uncle said, “I believe she worked as a waitress for a while. A restaurant on Third Street. Delgado’s, if I’m not mistaken. It was a long time ago, but they might have a phone number or forwarding address on file.”

Delgado’s. She’d passed the restaurant every time she went to the USD, venturing into the same orbit her mother had once occupied. The knowledge made her chest ache.

“Why would my mom leave me like that? I was so young. I needed her.” She still did.

“Your dad didn’t give her any choice. She wanted out. He agreed on the condition that you stayed behind. With him. It was complicated, and not an easy decision for her. But she felt like she couldn’t breathe anymore. Like your father and the movement were suffocating her.” He stroked her hair. “I’m glad you’re here. She’d want me to help you.”

She understood that claustrophobic feeling. The sensation of the walls closing in, her world shrinking, getting smaller and smaller, while the one thing at the center of her life only got bigger, greater. Stronger. That one person.

Empyrean.

Mac scratched his beard. “Your allergic reaction, going into anaphylactic shock like that, is odd since peanuts aren’t allowed on the compound anymore. Déjà vu. Alex must’ve had them stashed for a while.”

“Déjà vu?” Rocco stopped walking. “How so?”

“Well, Ayanna was allergic, too. She went into anaphylactic shock once. I didn’t see it, but I heard about it.”

“When did that happen?” she asked.

Mac shrugged. “Maybe two or three months before we left. It shook her up pretty fierce. She got really quiet after that. Stopped talking about leaving and taking you with her. I would’ve sworn that she had decided to stay. Then the day me and my guys were rolling out, she said a hurried goodbye to you and caught a ride out the gates with us. Didn’t take one thing with her but the clothes on her back. Left everything else behind.”

Including me.

“Is it possible that Marshall did that to her on purpose?” Rocco asked.

“What do you mean?” Mac grew still, staring at him in horror. “Put peanuts in her food?”

“Yeah. To scare her into staying,” Rocco said, his voice just audible enough to be heard over the rush of blood pounding in Mercy’s head.

“No way. He loved her.” Mac shook his head forcefully in either conviction or denial. “If anything, he became more protective of her and you.” He tipped his head toward her. “That’s when he banned peanuts from the compound and had all those black walnut trees planted. Your dad even took you to Denver, to a fancy facility, to have you tested for allergies.”

She vaguely remembered the trip. He’d called it an adventure. She’d cried when the doctor had pricked her with needles and begged for her mother, but she wasn’t there. Only her father, Alex, who held her hand, and a woman whose name she couldn’t remember.

It was a lot to take in. Much more than she wanted to process right now while there were bigger things going on. Lives were at stake, including theirs, if she and Rocco didn’t pull this off.

Everything was a blur as her uncle showed them around the camp, making endless introductions as they shook hands or waved hello and answered questions. Thankfully, Cormac and Rocco did most of the talking.

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